Appendix D 



Reprinted from Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Port and Ocean 

 Engineering under Arctic Conditions, 2001. Vol. 2, 997-1006. 



SHIP COLLISIONS WITH ICEBERGS: AN HISTORICAL RECORD OF 

 COLLISIONS IN THE SEAS AROUND NORTH AMERICA AND GREENLAND 



Brian T. Hill 

 Institute for Marine Dynamics, National Research Council Canada, St. John's, Newfoundland 



ABSTRACT 



A database of over 560 incidents of ship collisions with icebergs has been compiled. Most of 

 these collisions occurred in the North Atlantic but there are also several from around Greenland, 

 the Canadian Arctic and sub-Arctic, and from the fiords of Alaska. The database nominally 

 covers a 200 year period from about 1800 to present, and was compiled from contemporary 

 shipping newspapers and gazettes. It contains such information as the name of the vessel, 

 geographic location, and other factors when known such as vessel speed, iceberg size, damage 

 and loss of life. The long term trend of collisions with icebergs on and around the Grand Banks 

 correlates well, for the most part, with the re-constructed sea ice records off the east coast. The 

 decades around 1890 were unusually severe in ice conditions and this is reflected in the number 

 of casualties. Correlation between the two data sets becomes increasingly less apparent 

 throughout the 20"' century and this is likely due to better iceberg monitoring and detection 

 methods. Incidents still occur at an average of 1 to 2 per year and still pose a threat to operators 

 and navigators on the Grand Banks where oil resources are being increasingly developed. This 

 paper discusses the trends in collisions. 



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